Sussex environmentalist's life to be celebrated on Seaford Beach

Claire Sumners' Celebration of Life at Seaford Beach will take place on Sunday, August 7 and her family is inviting everybody who had ‘the pleasure of knowing our beautiful Claire’.

At the event, Claire’s ashes will be cast at sea, followed by a beach clean and an opportunity for people to share stories of Claire’s life.

Before she died, Claire’s family said the Plastic Free Seaford leader’s last wish was to have her ashes cast at sea with all of her friends there.

The organisers of Claire’s celebration event wrote on Facebook: “We have every intention of making this come true with Claire's Celebration of Life on Seaford Beach; a place she utterly adored.

"So her ashes will be cast at sea with all of her friends there, followed by the Beach Clean and a huge coming together of us all on the beach to meet, relax, laugh and share stories of Claire's beautiful life.

“So, for all her friends – old and new, family, colleagues, fellow environmentalists, social media fans. This is a celebration for everybody to join and create even more amazing memories in honour of this amazing human being.”

Claire died in March following a short battle with cancer.

Her husband Chris Sumners, described Claire as a ‘mermaid, who loved the sea and was amazing on land too’.

Chris told SussexWorld back in March: “She was a great married mum-of-two. She was also a wonderful step mum to my older boys. She encouraged us all to be environmentalists, if you speak to people in Seaford you will find she has touched a lot of people.”

Claire was a key figure in helping Seaford achieve plastic free status in 2020.

Having organised the Plastic Free Seaford group in 2018, she was instrumental in tackling the town's single-use plastic problem, helping the town council with its own Single Use Plastics Policy.

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The organisers say everyone is invited – including children and pets.

On Facebook, they wrote: “Everyone is invited in memory of this utterly wonderful woman, to make her last wishes come true and to celebrate her life and her amazing legacy.”